19 CFR § 10.877 - Direct costs of processing operations.

(a) Items included. For purposes of § 10.873(b) of this subpart, the words “direct costs of processing operations”, with respect to a good, mean those costs either directly incurred in, or that can be reasonably allocated to, the growth, production, or manufacture of the good in the territory of one or both of the Parties. Such costs include, to the extent they are includable in the appraised value of the good when imported into a Party, the following:

(1) All actual labor costs involved in the growth, production, or manufacture of the specific good, including fringe benefits, on-the-job training, and the costs of engineering, supervisory, quality control, and similar personnel;

(2) Tools, dies, molds, and other indirect materials, and depreciation on machinery and equipment that are allocable to the specific good;

(3) Research, development, design, engineering, and blueprint costs, to the extent that they are allocable to the specific good;

(4) Costs of inspecting and testing the specific good; and

(5) Costs of packaging the specific good for export to the territory of the other Party.

(b) Items not included. For purposes of § 10.873(b) of this subpart, the words “direct costs of processing operations” do not include items that are not directly attributable to the good or are not costs of growth, production, or manufacture of the good. These include, but are not limited to:

(1) Profit; and

(2) General expenses of doing business that are either not allocable to the good or are not related to the growth, production, or manufacture of the good, such as administrative salaries, casualty and liability insurance, advertising, and salesmen's salaries, commissions, or expenses.